Children with cognitive delays are very responsive to visual prompts in the classroom. A great assistive technology that these students can benefit from are "Memory Aids." Memory aids may come in a form of a keychain, picture schedules, visuals on velcro strips, and even computer applications. In general, children depend heavily on routines in the classroom or at home. Children with disabilities rely more than any child on these routines to be able function in a learning environment. Therefore, it is important to visually prompt children with down syndrome with picture schedules ranging from 2-6 a day. Ipads, smart boards, and computers are a great medium to assist children with their visual schedules. Here's an example of a memory aid that can be found in early childhood classrooms today.
An example of a Visual Memory Aid |
Another assistive technology tool that children with down syndrome can use is an adaptive keyboard also known as "Intellikeys." One of the most common characteristics that these children have in common in their delays in physical development. Gross motor and fine motor development can be challenging for these students. With the help of the "Intellikeys," children are able to practice language and literacy skills without having to spend too much effort in using a pen and a paper. These adaptive keyboards for students can be used to assess their knowledge on letters and words. This tool can also help students strengthen their fine motor ability, and their hand-eye coordination skills. The benefits of assistive technology in a classroom allows all learners to maximize their full learning potential.
The use of Adaptive Keyboards for learning |
The direction to which education is improving for children with disabilities has been tremendous. I believe that teachers are able to collaborate with other professionals to find more helpful ways in helping them learn. I believe that with technology advancing rapidly that there will be more high-tech programs that will benefit the learning of children with cognitive delays. I also believe that with the help of preventive research and medical findings, we can find a solution as to how to avoid this type of disability. I believe that there is more great findings that can help students with all disabilities learn better.
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment